The Impulsive Nature of Love
by LordLanceahlot
Summary: On Will's first night over, Elle agonizes over the pressing issue of pajama choice. Oh, and the drop dead gorgeous guy who will be staying about twenty feet from her bedroom. And keeping said gorgeous guy away from her parents. And the baby pictures.


There's this intensely cute guy about twenty feet from my bedroom. I'm serious. Me, Elle Harrison. The tall, track girl has the star quarterback whipped.

Though I'm pretty sure, he wouldn't say he was whipped. And to tell you the truth, neither would I. After all the things with Marco, I think we'd both like to stray away from violent imagery. But he really was attractive, a quarterback and apparently crazy enough to have a thing for me.

Go figure, I wasn't complaining.

At the moment, I was actually freaking more than anything. A quick glance at my bedside (beside that lovely, lovely rose) revealed the time to be 10:30 p.m. And now, with my relationship having so drastically changed in the past 24 hours, I had no idea what to expect. Should I… go see him? Knock on the door?

And what do I _wear?_

The thought struck me with all the weight of a freight train, as if this was the single most important thing I have ever and would ever deal with. It was very uncharacteristic for me to feel this way, I wasn't that far gone to not notice, but I was having a hard time scrounging up enough self discipline to care.

I grasped the handle of my pajama drawer, having to pull hard, and finally wrenched the drawer open. I surveyed my choices with dismay.

God, didn't I have lace anything? Why did I not?

Oh year. Majorly uncomfortable. Plus, no guy had ever looked twice and seducing men had never been really high on my list of things to do before I graduate high school.

Not that I was all set to barge in on Will and seduce the poor guy. He'd probably laugh if I tried. Or he'd blink and very pleasantly ask me about my thoughts on the Redskin's chances for the Superbowl.

So I wasn't going to seduce him. But I had told everybody I was going to get ready for bed. I couldn't _not _come out in pajamas! I surveyed my choices critically.

Baggy T-shirt, T-shirt with a rip in the side, basketball shorts. Great.

I bet Jennifer Gold never has this problem, I thought savagely. She probably wore lacy lingerie and pranced around the house in leopard skin thongs.

Finally, way in the back, I unearthed a pair of unworn jammies my mother had bought me last Christmas, when she was on her "bemoan Elle's predictable and unflattering sleepwear choices" kick.

They had a pair of multicolored striped bottoms and a fairly decent looking blue tank top to match. I tried them on and examined the image reflected in my mirror.

Finally giving myself a stamp of approval, I shook my hair from its ponytail finger combed it. After a final twirl in front of the mirror, I grinned. Not bad, Elle Harrison, not bad.

My hand stilled on the doorknob as I took a deep breath. This was ridiculous, I needed to get a grip.

_Oh, believe me, I'd love too._

I sent my traitorous thoughts a fierce glare and forced them to go take a cold shower.

_Just do it._

With one final gasp of air, I yanked the handle and opened the door wide.

The hallway was empty, Geoff's, now Will's, door tightly shut.

I deflated.

Shrugging it off, I trotted down the stairs to say a goodnight to my parents. Mr. Morton had finally left a half hour ago. To tell the absolute truth, I was sort of relieved. He kind of still creeped me out a little. I was slightly disappointed as I jogged down the stairs that Will had gone to bed without a goodnight, but I shrugged it off. I wasn't his keeper, he didn't need to be with me every moment.

And then, as I rounded the corner to the living room, I spotted him. He was leaning casually against the wall, talking to my father, dressed in a pair of …very…very nice flannel pants and a faded Avalon High football shirt. The shirt clung very nicely to his wide chest, showing off the extreme muscles in his torso and upper arms. My gaze traveled downward and took in the way those pants emphasized his….

Stop!

These thoughts needed to stop right there.

"—And Mr. Harrison, please don't call me sir. I'm not--"

Will broke off as he heard me come in and for a moment half a dozen crazy thoughts ran through my mind simultaneously.

_Gorgeous pool blue eyes._

_Really nice chest._

_Why on Earth is he interested in me?_

_Did I feel different being the Lady of the Lake?_

_I hope I look halfway decent._

_I hope my parents aren't…_

And when that final thought hit me, I recoiled in horror. I had done the unthinkable. I had left him alone with my parents. My God, he'd probably need years of trauma therapy.

"There you are Elle!" My mother said, beaming brightly from her armchair.

I blinked, rapidly trying to analyze the situation and save Will's butt before my father started in on treating his baby girl right and my mother volunteered to show baby pictures. Actually, I should go hide those. I filed that thought away for future reference.

"Oh Elle, you're wearing the pajamas I bought you! What's the occasion, you always wear those ratty and awful basketball shor—" My mother finally caught on to the reason I had actually dressed nicely for bed as she espied the handsome figure of Will.

It was too late. I was mortified. Absolutely, positively, I-have-to-go-die-now mortified.

Will didn't seem to notice however, he merely looked at the clock on the wall and commented on the time.

"I think I'll head to bed, thank you again for letting me stay here Mr. and Mrs. Harrison," he said amiably. "Elle, do you think you could show me where those sheets are?"

I nodded, wordless, and followed his retreating back. Finally, my voice came back to me along with enough common sense to shout a goodnight to my parents.

Once we were upstairs, I shot Will a sideways glance.

"I already showed you where the sheets were."

He gave me an embarrassed smile, one that brightened the hallway like a mega watt bulb. Yes, I was that far gone. Making cheesy, saccharine metaphors for his smile.

"I just wanted to get you alone for a few moments," he finally admitting, stepping a little closer to me.

_Oh. _I swallowed. I really must get better at this romantic, impulsive stuff.

I opened the walk-in linen closet and said in a voice loud enough to be heard downstairs.

"The sheets are right here, Will."

Will gave me one of those wolfish smiles. But unlike when Marco gave it, I felt thrilled rather than repulsed.

A moment later he was kissing me.

Did I mention what a good kisser he was? I wasn't a hotshot in that department, but I must have been doing something right, because he moved one large hand to lightly tangle in my hair and the other to pull me a little closer.

Seriously the world seemed to fade away. The clichés were back, this one worse than ever, but it was so true. All I could smell was the new scent of rain on him, could feel was his lips moving gently against mine, could taste was the coffee on his lips, could hear was his labored breathing and could see… well actually all I saw was black, because I had my eyes closed in blissful serenity.

And then a door slammed and we both heard a heavy set of footsteps on the stairs. I yelped, startled, and Will broke from the kiss, gasping slightly. Without thinking, I grabbed the door handle to the linen closet and shoved him in, shutting the door behind us.

The light from the hall filtered in through the crack of the door and we watched as both sets of my parents' shoes crossed the hallway. A moment later there was the gentle shutting of their door.

I turned in the dark to face Will. In the dark I could barely make out his outline, but he had a hand clapped firmly over his lips as he smothered his laughter. I stared at him for a moment before the hilarity of my impetuous action dawned on me as well and I started giggling as well.

We continued on in that vein for a while, both of us unable to stop giggling. We eventually sunk to the floor of the still dark linen closet and leaned against a shelf. Our laughter finally receded slightly and I poked his well defined chest.

"It wasn't _that _funny," I told him, mock-piqued.

"Which is why you were laughing so hard you couldn't let go of my arm," he countered, his eyes twinkling in the slight light.

"I was trying to make you feel better," I staunchly replied.

He gave me another heart melting grin and he lifted his arm to gently place it on my shoulders. Delighted at this new contact, I snuggled in closer to his chest.

"Does this mean I have to call you Your Grace and get your slippers?" I asked him, my voice slightly muffled by his shirt.

That set him off again and his laugh pleasantly reverberated through our touching bodies. A moment later, he grew serious, however and I lifted my head to meet his gaze.

"I don't understand this any more than you do, my Lady of the Lake," he said softly.

"But we'll do okay," I responded.

Will nodded and to my great delight, gave the top of my head a gentle kiss.

"I never got around to thanking you for earlier," he continued.

I shook my head, though he couldn't see it.

"I think you were giving me a very through thank you a couple minutes ago." I held my breath after I spoke the words; it was by far the most flirtatious thing I've ever said.

"Am I forgiven then?" He asked me playfully.

"I'm not sure, I think it's going to take a little more… persuasion."

He turned toward me and captured my lips in another heartstopping kiss. As we pulled away for a couple seconds air, he brushed a strand of hair behind my ears and gave me an affectionate smile.

Oh yeah. Lots and lots of persuasion.


End file.
